In Defiance of Damascus, Aid Goes Cross-Border To Rebel-Held Areas

A Mercy Corps warehouse is filled with hygiene kits for distribution in Syria.

Deborah Amos
/ NPR

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Originally published on July 15, 2014 6:53 am

The warehouse off a dusty back road near the Turkish frontier is vast. Large wooden crates are stacked and ready for delivery to the desperate and displaced inside Syria.

This is the operations hub for Mercy Corps, a U.S.-based charity, and one of the largest aid providers to civilians in rebel-held areas in northern Syria. There are many other aid organizations working on a multimillion-dollar cross-border aid operation funded by Western governments, including the U.S.

For the first time, aid officials are talking about the program openly.

The International Rescue Committee, another U.S.-based group, also runs a large operation in northern Syria, says IRC's president, David Miliband.

"There is work going cross-border, and that's giving a modicum of basic health and food for people in desperate need," Miliband says.

A Vast Relief Effort

In Syria, 11 million people, about half of the population, need humanitarian aid to survive. The United Nations Security Council on Monday passed a resolution by a rare unanimous vote calling for the delivery of aid by the most direct routes, including border areas outside Syrian government control.

The resolution reverses a Syrian government demand for a say in the delivery of all U.N. humanitarian relief and how it is brought into the country — which meant it wanted all aid to pass through territory under its control.

In a statement following the vote, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the resolution and, in particular, a reference to delivery of medical and surgical supplies. He says those items "have frequently been removed from aid convoys, in a violation of international humanitarian law."

It isn't clear whether U.N. relief trucks will roll through the four additional border posts outlined in the resolution. But a covert cross-border operation, based in southern Turkey, has long been in place, carried out by private charities to fill the gaps where the U.N. has been unable to reach.

"I think people are not aware of how much has been going on," says Pont. Aid officials have kept the program under wraps due to security constraints and the complex politics of the humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis.

Security is challenging. Intra-rebel fighting has cut off some delivery routes. Extremist groups have threatened some aid workers and kidnapped others. There are almost daily unpredictable bombardments by regime war planes in rebel areas.

One more risk has come from Damascus.

The Syrian government declared that any cross-border aid not approved in the capital is a violation of Syrian sovereignty and a "pretext to aggression." The U.N.'s top aid official, Valerie Amos, condemned the Syrian government stance as an "unlawful and inhuman" obstacle to life-saving aid.

But the veiled threat from Damascus has put every organization in southern Turkey on notice, says Mercy Corps' Pont. Mercy Corps convoys cross into Syria through border posts controlled by the Turks on one side, he says, and on the other sides by different opposition groups.

In these opposition areas, U.N. aid has been deliberately withheld by the Syrian government, say aid officials. Damascus stalls permissions for food deliveries in areas under rebel control and prohibits any delivery of medicines to opposition areas. A recent internal U.N. document showed that the vast majority of U.N. aid — almost 90 percent — goes to areas controlled by the regime, according to U.N. sources.

Millions more, in rebel areas, get nothing — no food or medicine. The worst off are civilians besieged by the Syrian army.

"We are not reaching everyone in need. With the joint efforts of everyone working here, there is still massive need," says Alan Cameron, an environmental officer with the IRC based in southern Turkey.

Re-Balancing Aid Distribution

Western governments, including the U.S. and Britain, have put millions into the cross-border operation in southern Turkey. The British government recently took an added step, increasing funds for aid through Turkey by more than $73 million and at the same time reducing contributions to the U.N. operation in Damascus.

It was seen as a message, and a welcome one to organizations working in southern Turkey, says the IRC's Miliband.

"They want to make sure that they are getting aid to civilians in rebel-held areas as well as government-held areas, and that's why they want to re-balance," he says.

But the attempt by a few nations and aid agencies to re-balance doesn't level the scales. The bulk of U.N. aid still goes through Damascus. Miliband says an attempt to reach beyond regime control must be made because lives are at stake. Humanitarian assistance is not negotiable, he says; it's a right for all under international law.

"Our concern, given the figures, is that the desperate plight of millions of civilians in besieged cities, the civilians who've fled, means that they are at the sharpest end of this dreadful conflict," Miliband says.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne. Good morning. In Syria, many people desperately in need of humanitarian aid have not been able to get it. That should change now that the UN Security Council voted yesterday to deliver medical and other aid to areas of Syria under rebel control without the approval of the Assad regime.

The UN says this will help 3 million of the nearly 11 million Syrians - about half the population - who need aid to survive. The resolution approved the use of new border crossings and UN monitoring teams to make sure aid flows smoothly. NPR's Deborah Amos recently returned from Turkey's border with Syria where she visited one large covert operation that's been underway for some time.

DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Here's the scene - a sprawling warehouse, a team of workers heave heavy boxes from packed trucks to wooden pallets. This is the operation center for Mercy Corps, the largest aid provider working in southern Turkey close to the Syrian border. I can't reveal the warehouse location. Mercy Corps maintains tight security because of the dangers in a war zone. For the same reasons, the warehouse manager doesn't want me to broadcast his full name.

NICK: Nick.

AMOS: That's it? That's fine. Tell me what is going to happen today?

NICK: Today we are offloading four trucks of hygiene kits.

AMOS: These hygiene kits are part of the daily aid deliveries. Mercy Corps reaches about a half million Syrian civilians each month.

NICK: Stopping spreads of disease starts with basic hygiene. And so if you can give them this, you can help prevent a whole load of other problems.

AMOS: Food baskets, tents and medicines solve other problems for civilians forced out of their homes by the fighting. Here, aid trucks roll across the Turkish frontier into northern Syria loaded with food and medicine says Alan Cameron with the International Rescue Committee. These private aid agencies stepped in as the Syrian government withheld permission for the UN to deliver aid in northern Syria. But even this operation falls short.

ALAN CAMERON: No, there's no question that we're not reaching everybody in need. It's impossible. With the joint efforts of all the organizations that are working here, there are still massive needs.

AMOS: And in particular?

CAMERON: In particular - food - access to food, access to healthcare.

AMOS: Delivery risks are high. There's fighting among rebel groups. Radical Islamists have threatened some aid workers and kidnapped others. One more risk came from Damascus. It was a veiled threat to every aid group working here. Any aid delivered across this border was the same as an attack on the Syrian state, according to Damascus.

NIGEL PONT: The Syrian government doesn't want anybody using border crossings that are out of their control.

AMOS: That's Nigel Pont, the regional director of Mercy Corps. Now this border has been specifically named in yesterday's UN resolution.

PONT: And the border crossings that we use - they're controlled on one side by the Turkish authorities, as is normal - but on the other side, by different opposition groups.

AMOS: Without a specific Security Council OK, the UN couldn't bypass the Syrian government's demand for control. Permissions for deliveries in rebel-held areas was consistently stalled. The result - UN documents show almost 90 percent of UN aid - and the UN is by far the biggest player - has gone to areas under government control, leaving out millions of others in need says Pont.

PONT: The scale of the need and the suffering is huge.

AMOS: Now the new UN resolution could bring help to many more civilians trapped by the fighting. Western governments were already putting millions into this operation in Turkey. Recently the British government boosted its contribution for the unofficial cross-border program and reduced support for the UN in Damascus. It was seen as a message - a welcome one - says IRC president, David Miliband.

DAVID MILIBAND: They want to make sure that they're getting aid to civilians in rebel-held areas as well as in government-held areas. And that's why they want to rebalance.

AMOS: It doesn't level the scales, but the new UN resolution could offer a lifeline.

MILIBAND: Our concern, given the figures, is that the desperate plight of, literally, millions of civilians in the seized cities - the civilians who've fled - means that they are at the sharpest end of this dreadful conflict.

AMOS: UN aid is far from a sure thing. It depends on making sure routes are safe. Aid agencies already working on the border stress they will keep up the deliveries. Deborah Amos, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.